10:15 Lum & Abner 12/25/41 "Christmas Story" Keystone #103 Norris Goff (Abner Peabody. Doc Miller), Chester Lauck (Grandpappy Spears, Lum Edwards) ; Sponsor - Alka Seltzer ; Announcer - Loy Crosby ; Abner, Grandpappy Spears, and Lum are traveling through snow, following the East Star, bringing food and blankets to a family from over by Pleasant Valley staying in an old barn for the night. Doc Miller had told Grandpappy about the family. The wife is pregnant. Her husband, Joe, is a carpenter who has been out of work for a while. Lum and Abner talk about hiring Joe to build their loading dock. Doc delivers a "fine baby boy". 1941 performance of Lum & Abner's Traditional Christmas Story.

I'll be interested to see if the 12/24/42 Lum & Abner episode Ed has scheduled is legit. A few years back, in a laborious process, I acquired all the episodes available from the Lum & Abner Society. It was fairly complete but among the missing episodes was 12/24/42. Will be nice to ass it to my collection.

Michael Manns defamation case is based on a 2012 CEI blog post by an adjunct analyst that harshly criticized climate scientist Michael Mann and the 2010 investigation of his work by Penn State, where Mann teaches. Shortly after its posting, the article was excerpted by syndicated columnist Mark Steyn in a piece on National Review Online. Mann demanded a retraction of the article by both NR and CEI. Both of these demands were rejected, and Mann filed suit.

Both CEI and NR moved to dismiss the case under DCs anti-SLAPP law, which is aimed at quickly ending libel cases whose real purpose is to squelch speech on public issues. The trial court denied these motions, and that is the issue that is now on appeal. (While Mark Steyn was originally jointly represented with NR, they had a falling out and Steyn is now seeking to go to trial against Mann.)

CEI and NR are supported by numerous amicus briefs from such organizations as the ACLU, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Time, the Washington Post, and dozens of other major First Amendment entities. No amicus briefs were filed in support of Mann.

The panel consisted of Judges Beckwith, Easterly, and Ruiz. All three judges have authored some strong Anti-SLAPP and First Amendment decisions.

The District of Columbia, which had filed an amicus supporting a strong interpretation of the Anti-SLAPP act, was invited by the court to open the argument. There was little doubt that the act permitted an interlocutory appeal such as ours (that is, an appeal that could be taken immediately, rather than after trial). However, the judges asked several highly technical questions regarding the proper evidentiary standard on an Anti-SLAPP motion.

This line of questions continued when our attorney, Andrew Grossman of Baker Hostetler, got up, and they consumed a fair amount of time. But Andrew was able to finish with several strong points regarding the fact that, because the blog post consisted of opinions whose factual basis was clearly disclosed (through hyperlinks and other references in the piece), they were fully protected under the First Amendment.

Michael Carvin then began his portion of the argument for NR. (While Carvin represents NR, his argument, like that of Grossmans, was really on behalf of both defendants.) His essential point was that the blog post accused Mann of misleadingly manipulating data, not fabricating it outright. This is not a meaningless technicality--a jury might well be able to evaluate the later charge, but not the former. Manns marrying two sets of data to produce his famous hockey stick was the prime example of this. The deceptive nature of that marriage was totally inappropriate for a jury, as would be a claim that unemployment data or economic statistics had been misleadingly used.

The judges were not that active in questioning Manns attorney, John B. Williams, but they made several very telling comments. When Williams claimed that eight separate investigations had exonerated Mann, one judge asked, What if CEI sincerely believes that those investigations are flawed? They take them apart quite thoroughly in their reply brief. Another question: If CEI strongly believes that its statements are true, then how can you ever show malice? When Williams cited one Supreme Court case as being directly on point, a judge asked, how is that the right fit for this case? Another noted that, under Williams approach, the Anti-SLAPP law wouldnt be doing very much work. And when Williams claimed that preponderance of evidence should suffice, a judge asked, but you need clear and convincing evidence for malice. And the judge noted that Williams failed to aske for the directed discovery that is expressly allowed under the Anti-SLAPP law. Finally, when Williams argued that a jury could evaluate misleading effect, all three judges made some rolling-eye expressions.

Carvin handled the rebuttal, and he made several very strong, and somewhat humorous, points: CEI and NR were fully entitled to mistrust EPA (they mistrust EPA on everything); Mann never really disclosed his conjoining of data sets; failing to dismiss would open the courthouse doors to every Washington figure accused of misleading the public; and, as CEI pointed out, EPA itself had expressly approved the use of the term fraud in scientific disputes.

In short, while the panel did not give any indication of which way they leaned, we are cautiously optimistic of prevailing.

Yet Obama is a dishonest man who is harming this nation in every way he can --- this nation for which patriots have historically sacrificed in the name of liberty --- but future generations of Americans stand to have their freedom at risk. I care about that.

Thank goodness for the Zimmerman verdict for Zimmerman, but liberals were going to get their racist wedge regardless as the continue to divide We The People on lines of race, gender, sexual orientation, economics, whatever.

Yo, Commie Boy. Wrong. The Race Industry, the Obama Administration, and the Main Stream Media which forced this farce of a trial on the tax payers to satisfy their progressive agenda to divide the people (and that was going to happen regardless of the Zimmerman verdict) are the winners. Mission Accomplished and Van Jones, naturally, is driving the wedge and pocketing the coin.

Laurie has been affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous lately, and the event had something to do with that. I seem to recall the event was the launch of a promotional video in Washington, DC, for AA. I don’t know all the details. My daughter is not in AA, but I believe she was the guest of a supporter of AA. I always liked Dhue a lot and was tickled to learn that she has it all together, and I’m so happy for her that she’s joining The Blaze. Maybe I’ll subscribe now. :)

I have a first hand report from a very reliable source (my youngest daughter) who met and interacted with Laurie recently at a function and said that Laurie is an extremely nice, friendly, unpretentious lady.

Sorry, I'm not from CT, but just wanted to add that as we are scheduled to attend the Competitive Enterprise Institute banquet on 6/20 we're now going to leave a day early so know that at least two additional people will be participating because of your thread.

"The Empire State Divide" is a video from Karen Moreau (of the Foundation for Land and Liberty) about New York's environmental ban on hydraulic fracking and the struggles of the people who presently own the land. A comparison is made to Pennsylvania where fracking is legal, the land owners are flourishing, and America is benefiting from tapping the energy resources.

"The Empire State Divide" is a video from Karen Moreau (of the Foundation for Land and Liberty) about New York's environmental ban on hydraulic fracking and the struggles of the people who presently own the land. A comparison is made to Pennsylvania where fracking is legal, the land owners are flourishing, and America is benefiting from tapping the energy resources.

Karen presented her short video (along with other people who shared videos on other free market issues) at the Grand Old Picture Show held in Tampa coincidental with the RNC convention a couple months ago.

My youngest daughter's think tank was releasing a video in homage to Leonard Read's "I, Pencil" essay that they are hoping to provide free of charge to schools and anywhere they can to encourage appreciation for free market principles.

11/28/46 "Chester the Turkey Thanksgiving Special" Program # 1146 Chester Lauck (Lum Edwards), Norris Goff (Abner Peabody) ; Announcer - Lou Crosby ; Lum's turkey, Chester, who likes hot tamales is to be served up for Thanksgiving --- but the old boys don't have the heart. Instead, they buy a prepared turkey from Luke Spears at his lunchroom --- and one hot tamale.

Indeed I did enjoy watching it. Since Clint's appearance at the RNC here in Tampa I've purchased several sets of DVDs of his work, which I'm leisurely going through. Finished the spaghetti westerns directed by Sergio Leone and scored by Ennio Moricone (who later teamed on one of my all time top ten favs, "Once Upon a Time in the West")

Greetings everyone.

Really bad week, eh? I thought Mitt had it. Obama playing to empty seats while Romney was drawing packed houses. I see reports of voter fraud and I'm inclined to believe it put Obama over the top.

I'm prepared to take down my shingle the moment the government starts to tell me how I am to comply with Obamacare. I love what I do, the people I work with, and the people who honor me with their trust of my care, skill, and judgement. I had planned to practice as long as I was physically able, but I will not be further controlled by the state.

Mitt was right, they were wrong. Post debate analysis of the incident is devastating for the libs. Candy looked to be a lame stream media JounrOhack who likely was in on the Obama scheme to spin his Benghazi failure with this laughable lie should Mitt give him an opening.

Did classy Michelle really break protocol by cheering when the "trap" was sprung?

The New Adventures of Michael Shayne 9/4/48 "The Case of the Generous Killer" Program #8 Jeff Chandler (Michael Shayne), Jack Webb (Inspector LeFever) ; Director/Host - William P. "Bill" Rousseau ; Creator - Brett Halliday ; Producer - Don W. Sharp ; Music - John Duffy ; Transcribed in Hollywood ; Exclusive Distributor - Broadcaster's Guild ; The diminutive cook from the tramp steamer Star of Bermuda shows up at Shayne's New Orleans office with a $100 bill to give to Shayne. The cook says it's from a passenger aboard the ship who wants Shayne to arrest him. Shayne goes to the Star of Bernmda. Upon entering the passenger's cabin Shayne finds a man hanging by the neck, dead. As Shayne beats a hasty retreat he runs into Inspector LeFever, who lets Shayne go. A local character known as "The Weasel" approaches Shayne with the name of this corpse. Based on papers the Weasel had lifted from the corpse's wallet his name was Victor Gros, a hired killer know only by name, and whose appearance was unknown. The Weasel wants to split reward money with Shayne who he wants to pass Gros' papers on to the police. As Shayne leaves, he hears the Weasel's screams as he is being knifed to death. Is Gros really dead?

I remember Tampa's North Dale Mabry Highway back in the day. A veritable rolling parking lot. State Senator John Grant even floated the idea of elevating a second road directly above it. Thank goodness that boondoggle never saw the light of day. Rush hour traffic only got bearable when the Veterans Toll Expressway finally siphoned off some traffic. It was as bad as the 405 to Simi Valley.

Has Dale Mabry Highway congestion really diminished such that traffic choke points can now be re-established?

Additionally, I wonder if this is a 24 hour Walmart and if so, whether residents in close proximity would welcome such an attraction to some of those who prowl the middle of the night in their neighborhood.

As for me, I would Hope not to see such a Change ever in my neighborhood.